The White Rose Mission and Industrial Association collection contains copies of the certificate of incorporation (1899); the constitution of the Association; and a partial history signed by Hudsy Smith, president of the board of directors (1899); annual reports (1906, 1907, 1912); and miscellaneous brochures, programs and invitations to the association's social events. There is also documentation concerning the property located at 217 East 86th Street, and for the property at 262 West 136th Street.

Biographical/historical information

The White Rose Mission and Industrial Association was founded in 1897 in New York City by Victoria Earle Matthews (1861-1907), former slave, journalist, author, and social worker. The Mission was a Christian, non-sectarian social center for African-American women who had migrated to the North in search of employment. It offered traveller's aid to young African-American girls and women who were stranded at railway stations and docks, and offered training for domestic service through cooking and sewing classes. The association opened the first White Rose Mission on East 86th Street in New York City and in 1918 moved into a three-story structure located on West 136th Street. The organization ceased its operations in 1984.

Scope and arrangement

The White Rose Mission and Industrial Association collection contains copies of the certificate of incorporation (1899); the constitution of the Association; and a partial history signed by Hudsy Smith, president of the board of directors (1899); annual reports (1906, 1907, 1912); and miscellaneous brochures, programs and invitations to the association's social events. There is also documentation concerning the property located at 217 East 86th Street, and for the property at 262 West 136th Street.|||In addition the collection contains a letter from Reverend Adam Clayton Powell of the Abyssinian Baptist Church to Mary L. Stone, president of the Association (1910), acknowledging receipt of a letter electing him to the Board of Managers, and a letter from Kathleen I. Bartholomew, of the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Association expressing interest in the Association.